Lechonera Los Pinos

Just go for the experience. Chicken was better than pork (and I love pork). Morcilla was so so and I love all kinds of blood sausages. Great people. Wonderful time even in a thunderstorm. Clean bathrooms.

Easy to find, plenty of parking. Food was fresh, lechon was juicy, tender and yummy! Meals were inexpensive and they spoke English which was a plus.

I’m not an expert on how authentic Puerto Rican food is suppose to taste like so there for I’m going to give this place 3 stars.
The place is a native style type restaurant. I went there on a Tuesday afternoon so the place was not packed once we arrived but there were plenty of locals popping in and out. It’s a cafeteria style restaurant. The service was friendly and they had no problem speaking English.
As for the food, the pork was tender, the skin was crispy. The blood sausage was mushy on the inside (I’m not sure if it’s suppose to be like that). The yellow rice was bland. Would I come back here for the food? No, but I’m not disappointed that I tried it.

I love that my fellow Unilocalers can guide me to the best spots, even in the campos of Puerto Rico. The drive to this place in itself is an adventure, filled with amazing views and winding roads. There were many bars and restaurants on route. This is actually a very nice part of the island. Now the place itself is not Nobu, nothing fancy, but a very well established restaurant, bar, entertainment venue. The food was buffet style and everything you can think of from lechon, mollejas, octopus salad, and excellent Pasteles. The place is partially indoors and outdoors which I love. There’s also a pool table, bar, and performers during certain times. If you want an authentic Puerto Rican experience look no further.

It’s been over a month now and I still can’t get over how delicious our meal here was! The lechon did not disappoint. The meat was nice and tender, while the skin thick and crispy. We went to 2 different lechoneras that day and this one was the clear winner.
Added bonus– I got to go behind the counter to take pics of /​with the lechon on the spit.

The best of the best on the Pork Highway! It was a bit of a drive out there in the mountains but the pork was all worth it. We went on a Friday afternoon (around 3pm) and it was pretty dead. The food was just about the best I had on our whole visit. The pork and crispy pork skin was perfect, and my sides of white rice and beans, sweet plantains, and blood sausage was the highlight of the day. The prices were also VERY reasonable. Paid $ 25 for our whole 2 person feast, and that included the beers. Don’t expect anything fancy! This place is basically a glorified shack with no walls, but the local foods it serves will make your mouth water!

If you’ve read my other reviews you’ll know one of my pet peeves: List your prices please! I posted a pic of our receipt so you can get an idea of the prices. They’re very reasonable btw. They have a large menu hanging in the front as you walk in to make the line to order but, no prices listed.
Anywho, we went on a Saturday afternoon. We were lucky to find a pkg space right away. Ordered. And sat down to eat and watch the elderly couples dance.
Food was good and service was good. Afterwards, we walked down the street to browse all the souvenir shops.
If you want fresh pork, this is the place to go in PR.
Enjoy!

We love to hit hole in the walls. This place definitely fits the bill. Even with all of the hype from the Travel Channel and Food Network attention, it is still a bit of an out of the way destination. We went up on a weekday and honestly, we stopped here because it was pretty much the only one open. All of the lechoneras are pretty much shacks on the side of the road up the road going into the mountains. But the smell of roasting pork fills the air as you get out of your car. The food is pretty much set up to pick up cafeteria style. You start the line standing in front of the pig, slowly turning over a fire with, wonderfully smelling fat dripping off. If eyes could eat, you were be devouring it the moment you walk into the joint. There is the assortment of plantains, tostones, rice, beans and various salads as well to pick from. We were not brave enough to try the blood sausage. Communicating to pick our food was a bit difficult as English was not spoken well within the place, but by pointing, we eventually got our order fight.
We got some pork (of course), arroz amarillo with some pigeon peas, sweet plantains, and some tostones. The pork had fantastic flavor from the outside in. A wonderfully smoked tasted with some spice to it as well. I was hoping for a bit more crunch from the skin, Filipino Lechon style, but it did get made up for by a fantastic tasting BBQ sauce, probably the reason the skin was not so crisp. It was just so juicy and wonderful. The arroz amarillo was also pretty good. The tostones were crisp and the sweet plantains were a good sweet accompaniment to the food.
Overall, the food was good. I don’t think it lived up to the hype. With the long drive, I am not sure I would make a special trip but if we were anywhere in the area on vacation, I would definitely go back to try more

Los Pinos is a great establishment with some pretty good food. My biggest issue with this place is the parking situation, and the fact that no food prices are listed anywhere. You essentially order what you want based on a plastic container numbering system that has no prices attached to them so be prepared to be surprised when you’re ready to pay. We paid $ 89.00 for all of the following.
3 lbs of Pork (too much meat for our family of 5) $ 27.00
¼ Chicken
8 Pieces of Morcilla (blood sausage)
4 Pasteles
1 Meat Empanadilla
1 Alcapuria de Yuca
#1 Octopus Salad $ 12.00
#1 Escabeche
#1 Cuajitos
#2 Rice and Gandules
#2 White Rice
1 2 liter of Pepsi
From everything we ate, we suggest skipping the pork skin (way too hard), pasteles (too thin and not enough meat), chicken (just blah), escabeche (nothing special), and the octopus salad (too hard and chewy). You must try the Pork (well seasoned and cooked to perfection), Morcilla (flavorful with a hint of spicy) the Empanadilla (very good), and the Alcapuria (perfect combination of yuca and meat)
If they get the pricing and parking situation addressed this would be a much more positive experience. Ordering food via a tablet or a smartphone would be very beneficial to this business and it would cut down the wait times to order and get your food.

Just went back and it was better than I remember. Food was truly delicious!!! We went on a Wednesday afternoon and the crowd was light unlike the weekend.
If you enjoy pork, specifically roast pork with the skin and everything, you must try this place. You definitely come here for the pork but keep in mind that this pork is cooked Puerto Rican style so flavors are not similar to Asian food but more Caribbean style. Pork is warm and juicy inside with a nice crispy coat of seasoned skin on the outside. If you visit this island and want to learn a little of the culture, you can start by trying some pork since it is a very traditional dish that is cooked by many locals.
This lechonera also offer many other traditional dishes, such as blood sausage, rice, yams, chicken, seafood salads, and desserts. They also have a full bar where you can try a cold Medalla, the local beer.
This is a casual establishment where you can order some delicious PR treats at the counter with a cold beer and enjoy it in a non-​pretensious atmosphere. No A/​c, no waiters, no glass nor silverware… Just good local food.

Sunday 3PM was probably the worst time to drive up the winding road to Los Pinos, spending close to an hour in bumper to bumper action. The wait doesn’t end there, as you spend another half an hour crawling up the line to order, but this is part of the fun for the locals! I would recommend getting a drink from the bar prior to going to line to make the experience go by faster :) I do see why the line takes awhile, as each customer is usually ordering for a large family.
Our order: Lechon (3lbs), some pig cheek, blood sausage (0.5 lb), and some sweet plantains. Sadly the pig skin was hard, rough, and was like eating tree bark. Not crispy at all. The pig cheek just tasted like pure fat. Squishy and oily. ½ lb of blood sausage is adequate. The sweet plantains were… good.
Was it worth the extra hour trickling up the road for this specific lechonera, I don’t think so, but it does seem to be one of the more popular ones, and the drinks from the bar looked yummy!

Few items are must orders. The lechon was a no brainer, delicous and well seasoned, but I think it may vary depending on which part of the pig you ordered from.
The blood sausage is a huge must. I was reluctant at first because I’ve had some dry Korean blood sausagee before. These looked exactly like the Korean blood sausages but with so much more flavor. It had a hint of cilantro mixed with popeyes Cajun rice, doesn’t taste gamey. Be sure to ask for a taste if you don’t believe me.
We also had some yuca and sweet yam. I preferred the sweet yam. The yuca has a strange fragrance that I don’t really like.
Make sure to come to this place early. We came here on a Friday night at 7pm and we were the last ones ordering. By 7:30 everything in the kitchen was washed and put away. This was also the last place that was open from what we’ve seen. Almost locations here seemed to be closed by 5 pm.

Food — 5 Ambience — 5
Great food all the way around, music and family friendly. We came on a weekday a d was so impressed with the pork we left with 4 additional plates for home.

I made the drive all the way to Guavate because apparently you MUST try lechon if you visit Puerto Rico. I chose this place specifically because Anthony Bourdain filmed a segment here. But. could I get my money and time back, please?
There are plenty of lechoneras around the area, many of them have live music, plenty of tables, and locals are all around here, which makes you believe that you should definitely check out this roasted pig stuff. However, food is really. bland. That’s a pattern I found during my trip to PR and I feel like people are used to bland food around here.
My boyfriend and I got a ton of stuff– blood sausage, lechon, green rice, shrimp cocktail, etc. There was nothing special about it. it’s not even cheap or anything. Also, parking is hard to find.

The drive from San Juan was not early as bad as we thought… took about 40 minutes and we never got lost (using google maps). We arrived at Los Pinos at noon on a Sunday. There were plenty of people there already, but it didn’t feel overcrowded. The line was long but moved very quickly. The two of us shared: 1 lb of lechon, ribs, potato salad, sweet plantain, yellow rice with beans, and some shrimp that was marinated in olives, raw onion, and peppers. With a soda and a water, our bill came to $ 33. It was a ton of food, but we wanted to try as much as possible. The pork was a little dry, but very well seasoned and the skin was crunchy, salty and tasty. The potato salad was mashed, which threw me off at first, but it was very creamy and I really enjoyed it. The arroz con gandules was a little bland, but I poured the marinated shrimp (not ceviche, as others have said, but very good) over the rice and the flavors and textures worked together really well.
Overall, the food was very good, but not stellar. IMO, half of the allure of the lechoneras of Guavate is the atmosphere. Everyone was out to have a great time. Los Pinos was clean, the counter staff was efficient and pleasant, there was a dj, dancing, the Medalla was flowing, and everyone seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. Although it was 90 degrees, there was a lovely breeze blowing in the mountains. Los Pinos has a bigger back room with more picnic table seating, two billiards tables, a full bar, and clean restrooms. It was a great way to spend an afternoon. When we left around 1:30, a tour bus had pulled in and you could see traffic going up the mountain was beginning to thicken. Glad we took other Unilocalers advice and went early.

This place is open on Fridays, when almost all of the other lechoneras are closed. You’d think it wouldn’t be good. It was. A huge outdoor eatery, covered by a large awning/​roof alongside a narrow road right where it curves in barrio Guavate in Cayey. Dogs chill in the middle of the road.
We got stuck in the rain. But, it didn’t matter. This is the kind of place where you want to wait it out. Great food. A small bar in the back. And the cleanest bathroom I had seen the entire time in Puerto Rico.
Serenata de bacalao. Enselada de pulpo. Arroz con gandules. Yucca. Ñame. And of course, lechonera. Everything we ate was so damn delicious and for two people, $ 25. The day before we got jacked for $ 22 for a martini glass of ceviche. Ugh.

This is a great & clean lechonera to visit serving some amazing lechon (pork from a spit roasted pig) & starchy sides.
It’s most interesting to come here early on a sunny weekend day, but I couldn’t so I came in the evening during the week. It was still light out when I started driving there but the sun retired soon after. Most of the lechoneras were closed but not Lechonera Los Pinos! It was between 6 & 7 pm when I arrived. The lights were still on and the music was still pumping! I was so relieved.
I used my minimal Spanish to order for my colleagues and me. We were their last customers. They didn’t have much left when we arrived but the star was still available– El lechon! The meat was juicy and tender. The skin was perfectly greasy and crisp. We had some delicious plantains and root veggies (batatas and cassava-​yucca) as sides. Normally, they have more sides but they had been finished off by the time we got there. Pour a soufflé cup of garlic vinegar for your cassava. Also try the pepper infused vinegar on your cassava or pork. Wash it all down with a local beer or mixed drink (if you’re not driving). Food & drinks for three (with some to spare) ran us about $ 35. Nice!
The three employees who helped us were very hospitable. Thank you!
They do have clean restrooms here along with a sink for hand washing near the bar if you don’t need to visit the facilities.
I loved maneuvering through the narrow windy roads. GPS does work but be careful. There are some bold dogs who sit so close to the street.

First of all, you must come here for the experience of it all. The whole street is just unreal, I’ve been wanting to visit the pork highway for a while after seeing it on Bizarre Foods. But here is my question, how does one of the main spots on pork highway RUN OUT OF PORK? I don’t understand this. We came around 6pm and they were out of it, perhaps I missed a note that you have to come early, but nonetheless was a bit disappointed.
— I first want to note that staff don’t speak English. If you don’t know any Spanish, you may have to do some finger pointing and laughs to get the order in
— Rotisserie chicken was tasty and so was the blood sausage
— It’s hopping, the music will make your ear ring and definitely do not come here to have a conversation if you don’t bring a loudspeaker
— Line was short on a Sunday night at 6pm, I’d say 10 min wait. I heard when the pigs are there, it’s a different story.

Roasted pork goodness off in the Puerto Rican hills.
We ventured here after reading about these small restaurants in the wsj. I’d never had this type of meat making comparisons difficult but I can say that the pork here was fantastic. Their homemade hot sauce was also pretty good. Staff is also super friendly and very patient with outsiders who are not knowledgeable about ordering.
–1* for the sides we had which were just so so.

What a treat. So glad I stopped here on the drive from Old San Juan to San German/​Ponce. Nestled on a winding road with the lush green rainforest-​esque landscape, this is a no frills, open air tented restaurant. Line up with a mix of customers mainly local and a few tourist especially later in the day, order meats and appetizers by the pound and chow down.
I will say I was disappointed with the house specialty. The roasted pork meat we got was all white and all dry. The skin was perfectly crispy though and there were several sauced to put on top. Wish I’d specifically requested dark meat. But the black pudding sausages were divine. Slightly crispy on the outside, filled with a perfect balance of rice and pudding to be lighter, really, I couldn’t get enough. The yellow rice with pigeon peas was solid, though not as flavorful as some others I had in town, though it also seemed like it was more moist and flavorful at the bottom of the container.
Go early! Parking fills up quickly and going before noon helps.

El pollo asado es mejor que el lechon! Pero muy bueno